Bert Feddema

I graduated in 1993 from the Minerva art School in Groningen. After graduation I became fascinated by science and by the world of multinationals. Since, I have developed and founded my own (art) multinational High Tech Brain Technologies (HTBT). In the name of this multinational I have created different works of art which are signed High Tech Brain Technologies (HTBT), -TV, -Pharma and -Lab.
We are surrounded by technology and science. They are integrated in our daily lives to such a degree that we are hardly aware of it. The luxury of technology is all around us and does entail many advantages. But is there also a downside to it? Is it in our own interest? We are besieged by new technologies and products. Hope and dreams are being sold to us every day by big companies.
This occurs especially in the medical and pharmaceutical field. They promise us eternal life and youth; available, accessible, affordable and qualitative medical care and medication. We are told that everything will be OK, that we’ll receive the best possible care. However in reality our expectations are not met; health care does not evolve around the patient but around financial gain and time management.

Today’s society focuses mainly on the healthy and the strong. However many people suffer every day from chronic illness or pain. This influences their personal lives and often also affects their social- and working environment. Society places a stigma on weakness – chronic illness is a crucial aspect of this stigma. That is why many people choose not to talk about or to disguise their problems.
In the world of arts we are talking a lot about the individual, but never about the experience of being ill or in pain.
A few years ago I became ill myself. I was drawn into the world of health care, became part of a medical cycle of hospitalisation and long-term medication. I realised that being chronically ill influences my entire life: it changed my self-image and raised many questions. Many of these questions remained unanswered. It is important to open these issues up to discussion – in order to do that I have decided to make my own medical records public in spite of the consequences and stigma that could bring. I started collecting all my records and integrating them into different works of art. On one side these works view the issue from the perspective of multinationals on the other side they represent my own experience - they are more or less a self-portrait.

Portfolio:

A.R. (Bert) Feddema (06-12-1966), graduated in 1993 from the Minerva art School in Groningen. After graduation he became fascinated by science and the world of multinationals. Since, he developed and founded his own so-called multinational High Tech Brain Technologies (HTBT). In the name of this multinational he has created different works which are signed HTBT or HTBT-Pharma. viramuneFor more information on Bert and his work, please visit: http://htbt.exto.org

Within the arts we talk a lot about the individual experience, but never about the experience of being ill or in pain. It is important to overcome this taboo and make the subject of pain a topic that can be freely discussed. A few years ago Bert became ill himself and has since experienced chronic pain. Besides, he was drawn into the medical world, became part of a medical cycle of sickness, hospitalisation and long-term medication. He realised that being chronically ill and experiencing pain can influence one’s entire life: it changes a persons’ self-image and it raises many new questions. Who do you tell that you are sick? When do you tell people you are sick? How about finding a new job? All these questions though, often remain unanswered because of the taboo. In order to open these issues to discussion, Bert created a self –portrait series of paintings entitled ‘Look at me - Look into me’. The recurring theme of the series is the experience of pain which becomes tangible and real in every work through scratches made with a pencil.

Since I''m sick I personally experiencing the science and art of the flesh itself. I am scanned, photographed inside and my body is decompose in numbers and values. These numbers have beauty of themselves. They are beautiful and very distant.